Nightwing: Allegiances
by capricorn66
Summary: Sequel to Nightwing: Origins. After the events in Nightwing: Origins, Dick has finally found his footing. Unfortunately, his new world is about to be thrown off balance once more by the Outlaws, the Justice League, and a very familiar little bird. To top all of that off, Deathstroke isn't quite ready to give up his Renegade. Rated T for language and more violence. A lot of it.
1. Differences

**A/N: Here y'all are! It's the first chapter! Yep.**

**Heads up! Until I'm done with the super duper rough drafting process, updates will be erratic. So...Sorry. As this is chapter one, not much is happening. There will also be a lot of recap in the beginning few chapters.**

**BTW, I own noting... Except for a few briefly mentioned OCs.**

**ALSO, there's going to be some language.**

* * *

**Chapter 1- Differences**

* * *

"_One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives."_

_ -Mark Twain _

* * *

The video was fuzzy, having been filmed by a low quality security camera. It showed the inside of a small bank in southern Blüdhaven. There were people lying on the ground, hands on top of their heads. Then there were the robbers being recorded marching through the lines of hostages, automatics held threateningly in front of them.

Nothing particularly new. After all, it was Blüdhaven.

That's when something new did happen. A dark blur came out of nowhere and took down the first guy. Turning, the blurred figure launched a small projectile at the second guy, hitting the gun away. Guys three and four were knocked down just the same. The second guy, who was still shocked at having his hand hit by the odd projectile, soon found himself to be the only one still standing. Cowering against the wall as the dark figure approached, his shoulders sagged in relief as the mysterious blur apparently said something to him. Holding his hands out, guy two voluntarily allowed himself to be handcuffed by the blurred figure.

Turning its head, the figure took off. Whatever features on guy two that weren't distorted from the camera appeared confused, and then shocked as a swarm of cops ran in. As the cops helped the hostages up, the questions floating around the room were tangible even through the screens of the viewers watching. That's when the video paused.

"This video was taken two days ago, ladies and gentlemen," a middle aged man said in a somewhat nasally voice, neatly trimmed sandy blonde hair perfectly combed, and grey eyes intense, "It is the first footage taken of the enigma that is Nightwing, the supposed hero of Blüdhaven."

The man took a moment to dramatically straighten his tie. "G. Gordon Godfrey's belief in this new hero's existence isn't too farfetched anymore, is it? Yes, I've believed he's been real since the first reports of him were made a bit over a year ago. Did you all trust me? No. But now there is actual video evidence that he exists."

Godfrey, for that was the name of the middle aged man, paced dramatically in his news studio, the cameras following him. "Notice how this amateur hero didn't go in full force like what the Justice League has been known to do. He slipped in, got the job done, and left. If you ask me, this guy has got it right. In a similar case not even two weeks ago, Superman flew into a bank in Metropolis to save hostages from four robbers. His methods caused the city thousands of dollars' worth in damage. If the League insists on being heroes, perhaps they should break less and save more."

The camera zoomed in on Godfrey's face. "The Justice League is full of secrets, ladies and gentlemen. I don't know about you, but I'd feel a bit better sleeping at night if I knew they were more like Nightwing."

* * *

Kid Flash pushed the power button on the remote forcefully. He glared at the television where Godfrey's face had previously been. "I really hate that guy," the speedster announced to the group congregated in the general area.

Those present consisted of Artemis, Miss Martian, Superboy, Robin, Batgirl, and the recently added Beast Boy. The others were either on a mission, injured, finishing school, going at it solo, in the League now, traitors, or dead…Mostly, they were on another mission. Batman had sent them to go look into a suspected importation of some type of illegal technology. Those not on the mission hadn't been given the full details due to Batman's paranoia.

"Did you see that Megan!?" Beast Boy exclaimed in excitement, "That guy just came out of nowhere and beat them all up before they could even raise their guns!"

"I did see that; he was quite skilled," the Martian said.

Batgirl nodded and asked, "Who do you think trained him? There's no way he got that good on his own."

"His style is very direct," Artemis noted, "Almost like a mercenary's. Yet, there's more to it."

"Honestly, I'm just surprised he's real," Kid Flash stated.

Raising an eyebrow, Artemis appraised her boyfriend, "You didn't think he was?"

"Hey," the red-head defended, "Half of the population didn't think he was real."

"Half of the population isn't on a covert ops team for the Justice League."

"How do you know? Maybe they're just really good at being covert."

"That's you're defense?"

"It's not impossible."

"It's improbable."

"That's the exact same thing."

"No it's not."

"Uh, close enough!"

"They're not the same!"

"Alright guys," Robin jumped into the impending argument, "I thought you said you weren't going to do this anymore."

"We never said that," Wally said cheekily.

The fifteen year old Boy Wonder sighed as he turned his attention back to the laptop he'd been toying with all day. Upon entering Mount Justice earlier, he'd been complaining about having to hack the Pentagon…again. Apparently they'd upped their firewalls if Robin was having this much trouble.

"Maybe you should take a break," Wally suggested.

"No, I can't until I figure out who's doing this," the teen declined.

"What do you mean?"

"Somebody has set up a side program to the Pentagon, it repels outsiders from entering while duplicating all information that the government receives. Whoever set it up must have a lot of free time."

"Well maybe-"

**"Recognized: Batman 02."**

"-we'll get a mission?" Wally finished his sentence with something entirely different than what he'd originally intended due to the arrival of the unexpected Leaguer.

Batman's appearances at Mount Justice had dropped drastically in recent years, as the team's abilities and independence increased. Unfortunately, since Kaldur was presently injured from a recent mission and Mal was preoccupied elsewhere, the assigning of missions to the young team once again fell on the Dark Knight's shoulders.

"I guess we should go meet him," Connor suggested after a moment's silence, standing up. The others followed suit, all curious about their upcoming, rather sudden, mission.

* * *

**Earlier that Day:**

Blüdhaven High was a normal school. It consisted of normal low quality lunches, normal lessons, and normal extracurricular activities. The teachers were normal. The classrooms were normal. The hallways were normal. The students were normal, minus their connections to some of Blüdhaven's criminal families. This normality was pretty abnormal when one took into consideration that Blüdhaven High was in…well…Blüdhaven.

So, on a normal Friday, in a normal calculus class, a (not so) normal student called Chester Honeywell was staring out the window overlooking a rather normal parking lot. Like all of his classmates, Chester was eagerly awaiting the end of the school day. Glancing at the clock, the twelfth grader noted that there was only five minutes left in said school day, and because it was Friday, that meant he had a whole weekend ahead of him to relax.

Hallelujah!

"Mr. Honeywell!" the sharp voice of Mrs. Carther, the calculus teacher, drew the boy's attention away from the window.

"Yeah, Mrs. C?" Chester asked casually. This wasn't the first time he'd zoned out in class, and it definitely wasn't going to be his last. So what if the teacher called him out on it? It's not like he was a novice when it came to this stuff. In fact, he'd bet money that he knew way more about calculus than his teacher…not that he'd tell her that. Besides, the C he currently held in the class wouldn't do very well to help his case.

"Perhaps you'd like to answer this problem then, since it appears my lesson is boring you again," Mrs. Carther said with malice evident in her eyes. She was highly against students who didn't pay attention to her, and since Chester never did, she had a habit of picking on him.

For his part, Chester was caught in a trap. On a personal level, he was sick and tired of his smug know-it-all teacher always asking him dumb questions when he ignored the lessons; dumb questions that he always (purposefully) answered wrong. He wanted nothing more than to put her in her place! Then again, he couldn't be too smart. He did have an appearance to uphold, and Chester Honeywell was supposed to be an average student, not a genius.

Secret IDs sucked.

"Chester, if you don't know the answer, you can feel free to admit it. Even those actually paying attention would have trouble," the I-am-better-than-you tone of Mrs. Carther rang through the room as the class of twenty three students looked from their teacher to their classmate.

Chester gritted his teeth. That woman really got on his nerves. What's one smart ass move going to do to ruin his guise anyway? So, coming to that conclusion, he said in a snarky voice, "Actually, Mrs. C, I do know the answer."

The teacher glared. "Do you now?" she asked.

The other students' eyes widened at this new development. Never before had Chester actually graced Mrs. Carther with a response. Sure, he'd been called out many times, but each time when the teacher commented that he wouldn't know the answer, he either just shrugged or glared. It depended on what the teacher said. Yet, for some reason, today was different.

Oh yes, calculus just got much more interesting.

"Yes, I do," the dark haired boy responded confidently.

"Would you care to share it with everyone?"

Chester's eyes knitted together in faux confusion, "Wait, why would you ask me a math question that you don't know the answer to?" That elicited chuckles from a few classmates.

"Of course I know the answer!" Mrs. Carther exclaimed in irritation.

"Then why were you asking me to share it with everyone? If you actually knew the answer, then you would've asked me to share with my fellow classmates instead. Not everyone. Be more specific Mrs. C."

More chuckles echoed throughout the class after he said that. Everyone knew that normally Chester was a laid-back kind of guy, but there were a few rumors that he could be quite mouthy when he felt like it. Obviously he felt like it today, much to the joy of his peers.

"Mr. Honeywell, I suggest you stop mouthing off right now and provide an answer to the question," Mrs. Carther scolded, glaring at her entire class for encouraging the unruly student's behavior.

"Ah, but I did answer the question."

"Oh really? I don't remember you answering it."

"Well…forgetfulness is an unfortunate side effect of aging. Perhaps you should look into an early retirement."

The class laughed. Mrs. Carther turned beet red. Chester leaned back in his chair and smirked.

"Mr. Honeywell, I will-"

"Oh, look at the time! Mrs. C, you've killed the rest of your class time, we've only got about thirty seconds left," Chester interrupted the teacher, successfully saving himself from receiving a detention.

Mrs. Carther glanced at the clock to find that the boy was indeed correct, opening her mouth in another attempt to punish Chester, she once again found herself being cut off.

"Don't worry about it; we can continue the lesson on Monday! It'll be great!" That's when the bell started to ring, signifying the end of the school day. Mrs. Carther just gaped as her laughing students patted Chester on the back while they exited.

Then, to make matters even worse, as Chester himself was leaving, he paused for a quick second, turned to her, and said, "By the way, the correct answer is pi over three."

Flipping through her book of answers, Mrs. Carther found, much to her displeasure, that he was right.

* * *

"Oh man, that was great!" Chester's friend Joey cheered as their group walked home after school. Joey wasn't the smartest kid in school, like Chester he mostly got Bs and Cs. Both boys were in their senior year and on the baseball team. The same could be said with Sam and Toby, the other two boys walking with them. Although, Sam was a junior…not a senior.

"Yeah, that was pretty awesome Chester," a girl named Mira said, getting a bit too close to Chester. Mira was the brains of the group, despite her flirtatious attitude, and she too was a senior; with her was her friend (and Sam's twin) Sara. Both girls were on the volleyball team, and during their off season, they worked for the school newspaper.

Yes, Chester Honeywell, the new kid who began school at the beginning of his senior year, was becoming quite the popular guy.

And to be honest, he didn't know how to handle it.

Back at his old school, he had only one true friend. Nobody besides her really wanted to hang out with him. Now, he had a lot of friends. People who wanted to spend time with him. It made him happy, confused, and nervous. He _did, _after all, have a pretty unconventional after school activity.

"Chester, do you know if your brother is coming to the next game?" Sam asked suddenly, "I haven't seen him around much since you turned eighteen."

Chester shrugged, "I don't know. Last I checked he was still in Europe somewhere."

"Man, that brother of yours," Joey laughed, "He's something else."

"Yeah, I mean, who else gives their little brother full possession of their apartment and takes off to God knows where, just like that?" Mira questioned.

"What can I say?" Chester asked with a fond smile, "Devon is one of a kind."

"That's for sure…" Joey mumbled.

Before anyone else could say something, someone's phone began to ring. The group of teens all felt their pockets or dug through their purses to check if it was theirs. As it turned out, it was Chester's phone.

"Speak of the devil," the boy stated whilst showing his friends the screen. The screen which clearly displayed the words: The Dark Lord. That, of course, meant that it was Devon.

"You guys go on ahead; my road is coming up anyway," Chester said. The others just shrugged and said their goodbyes before continuing their treks home.

Turning back to his phone, Chester quickly answered it by saying, "Are you back, then?"

"What, no hello?" the very familiar voice of Devon answered.

"No. You haven't contacted me in a month; I don't have to be nice."

"Aw, you were worried."

"Now I'm just pissed. So your reason for silence better be a damn good one."

Devon chuckled and said, "You sound a hell of a lot like me right now."

"What do you want?" Chester asked, ignoring his brother's playful mood.

"Is your line secure?"

"Of course it is. I set up the security myself."

"Good, because the Outlaws need a lookout."

Chester stopped in his tracks. Looking around, the boy quickly found an empty alleyway to continue his conversation in.

"Why?"

"There's going to be a kryptonite shipment at Blüdhaven's LexCorp on Sunday. It's gonna be tricky, so who better to help than my little Dickie Bird?"

"In case you forgot, Jay, Nightwing is supposed to be a hero."

"We're just being proactive. Do you really think Lexy is gonna use the kryptonite to help humanity? No. So, come on!"

Dick sighed, because in all actuality that's who Chester was. He was Richard Grayson. The dead ward of Bruce Wayne. Chester Honeywell only existed while other people were around.

"Fine, I'll do it," the teen conceded. Then a slight smile formed on his face. "It has been a while since you've needed me to steal something."

"You're not stealing anything, punk. You're just keeping wa-"

As he casually left the alleyway, Dick Grayson's smile transformed from slight to rather evil.

He had, after all, just hung up on the Red Hood.

* * *

**Present:**

Batman's scowl deepened as he observed the young heroes before him. Every time he saw them, he couldn't help but wonder where Dick would be among them. Would he be taller? Hopefully. Would he be the tallest? Would he be muscular? Would he have facial hair? Would he have scars visible on his face? Would he have a girlfriend? Would he be smiling and mischievous still? Would he still be Robin? He'd be seventeen if he were still alive. Almost a man.

Shaking himself out of the train of thought usually reserved for when he was Bruce Wayne, Batman addressed the Team. Pulling up a picture, he heard gasps coming from Young Justice.

"This," the Dark Knight began, "is an image taken of the group known as the Outlaws while they were in Madrid last month. The leader of this group is Red Hood, the girl is called Starfire, and the other man is now going by Arsenal."

The picture in and of itself was relatively fuzzy. In the front was the obvious leader, the red helmet a dead giveaway to who he was. Above him, and a bit to the right, was a flying girl with orange skin and green eyes. She appeared to be shooting some type of energy beam from her hands. The man in the background was an easily recognizable face within the hero community. He was the first vigilante to ever defect. With red hair, arrows, and a bow, Speedy…erm Red Arrow….erm Arsenal, appeared to be running, with an arrow already drawn and ready to fire.

Continuing, Batman said, "We have gained some intelligence saying that the Outlaws will be going to go after a shipment of kryptonite just sent to the LexCorp in Blüdhaven. Your job is to prevent them from getting it. The shipment is due to arrive Sunday evening. Any questions?"

"You're not going after them?" Batgirl asked, "Red Hood is one of your guys..."

"Now that Blüdhaven has a hero, the League can't just waltz into his city. It'd bring bad press," Robin explained for his mentor, "Especially if Godfrey caught wind of it. That guy seems to adore Nightwing."

Batman nodded in agreement to Robin's assessment, causing a small smile to grace the boy's face. As he aged, Robin's detective skills were improving at an alarming rate. It was hard for the Dark Knight not to feel proud knowing that he'd helped sharpen the teen's ability. Of course, such pride was usually followed by a deep feeling of sorrow. Both Jason and Dick had died after he'd come to terms with how much he cared for them, and Bruce simply refused to have the same thing happen to Tim, especially since the boy still had his father.

In order to leave before his thoughts strayed back to his sons anymore, Batman stated, "Batgirl, you're in charge. Anymore information you require for this mission is located in the folders just outside the Bioship. I expect you all to have them read through thoroughly come this Sunday." With a swish of his cape, Batman retreated back through the zeta tube, thoughts of his sons still swirling around his head.

* * *

**A/N: It's done! YAY!**

**So, in case you didn't pick up on it, I altered Dick's personality a tad. Seeing as he's been spending time in Bludhaven, as well as with Jason, it'd be strange for him not to develop somewhat of a potty mouth and grungier attitude...Especially since he doesn't have to act all "high society" anymore. Don't worry too much. Everything will be...revealed I suppose...in time.**

**COMING UP IN NIGHTWING: ALLEGIANCES: The segment of story that started it all, a Sunday night in Bludhaven, and lots of Timothy Drake. **

**Hope you enjoyed! PM me your concerns, but as this is the first chapter, many of them will probably be answered soon. **


	2. Detections

**A/N: Here's the second chapter! **

**A few things first. One, this chapter is a filler. It's basically giving a mini recap of things that have happened and some inner thought mumbo jumbo. Two, from this point onward, I shall update once a month until I'm done with my drafting process. This way, I won't have to pause the story while I try to come up with what's going to happen next. Three, this particular chapter was devised rather early on. Bits and pieces were written while I was still doing Nightwing: Origins. Fun Fact: The first section of this chapter was written up before I even considered the prequel. It was the idea that began EVERYTHING. **

**Thank you to everyone! Your amazing support has left me in awe. I was honestly not expecting so many people to get into the series, so thanks! Words can't describe how happy you all have made me! I might pick up review responses next chapter, so (possibly) stay tuned.**

**Thanks again! I own nothing, there's some language...**

**ENJOY :)**

* * *

**Chapter 2- Detections**

* * *

"_You can't defend. You can't prevent. The only thing you can do is detect and respond." __-__Bruce Schneier_

* * *

Nightwing knelt on top of Blüdhaven's Star Labs building. Despite not being the tallest in the city, it had the perfect view of the seediest blocks. Okay, the entire city was pretty seedy, but some parts truly were worse than others. Like how Crime Alley is the worst part of Gotham.

Inching forward so that the toes of his right foot hung over the edge of the roof, Nightwing caught a glimpse of his true purpose for being out and about on a Sunday night (he usually tried to take Sundays off because he figured he needed at least one night of sleep). What he caught a glimpse of was LexCorp. They'd just received a shipment of kryptonite, so like the good hero that he was, Nightwing was keeping watch for any potential problems.

Despite the…unfortunate…events surrounding his debut as a solo act, Nightwing was perfectly content where he was. Sure, he missed his old friends and family a ton, but he couldn't just waltz over to the Mountain or the Cave and say hi. They all thought he was dead. Dead people don't just come back to life…Unless they're Jason, or Ra's….Now that he thought about it, Nightwing knew quite a few people who were dead or presumed dead, who came back.

With thoughts of his old life, Nightwing grew angry. He may miss them, but they didn't miss him. They'd replaced him after all. Why should he go back to the people who'd treated him like nothing? His life as Chester Honeywell was way better than Dick Grayson's ever could be anyway. Now that Chester was eighteen (despite Dick actually being seventeen) he was legally allowed to own the apartment. In fact, the very day of his fake birthday, Devon (Jason's nom de plume) signed the lease over to his younger brother. The next day he was in Madrid.

Chester also had real friends. Not people trying to get close to him for money. Sure, Dick had had Barbara, but he'd also had bullies. Chester had a group of friends, no bullies, and a promising future as…well, whatever he wanted! Dick's future had already been decided for him.

That was the difference between the past and the present for Nightwing. In the past, everything was chosen for him. Expectations were abound, all resting on his, at the time petit, shoulders. Now, he had freedom. He could do anything, be anyone. He loved it!

Pulling out a pair of binoculars from the duffel bag given to him for his watch on LexCorp, the vigilante of Blüdhaven turned his attention to the sky. If there were to be any potential problems, they'd definitely arrive from the air. LexCorp's ground security was surprisingly airtight; only an idiot would try the direct approach. Nightwing highly doubted he'd be up against any idiots for this particular case.

That's when he noticed it. The slight blurriness of the clouds, almost as if the sky was moving unnaturally. The anomaly was vaguely reminiscent of…Martian camouflage….

_Okay Nightwing, think. There're only two known Martians on Earth. One of them is Martian Manhunter, who is part of the League. After Godfrey's little rant session about how amazing I am, the League wouldn't even dare to show their face in my city. That only leaves…_Nightwing's thoughts froze at the revelation. Young Justice was in his city. That was the only plausible reason for the Bioship's presence in Blüdhaven.

Pulling up his improved wrist computer, modified specifically for his Nightwing suit, the seventeen year old activated his earpiece communicator. He'd had it off because his current allies had a habit of bickering over them.

"It's about fucking time you pulled your weight," Red Hood was saying, presumably to Arsenal. He never talked to Starfire like that.

"I always pull my weight. All you do is mess with your stupid guns," the insulted archer retorted.

"At least I have some guns."

"You did not just go there!"

Nightwing sighed, of course they were arguing. He was accustomed to some form of professionalism when he worked, so whenever the Outlaws asked for his help, he was always hesitant to accept. Not only were their methods a bit questionable (even for him), they also had a habit of being impulsive and reckless. How they never got caught was beyond Nightwing's comprehension.

Deciding to finally warn his temporary comrades of the impending arrival of Young Justice, Nightwing interrupted the quarrel by saying, "Hey guys, I just saw something interesting out here."

"What is it you saw Friend Nightwing?" the relieved voice of Starfire asked over the comm.

"Nothing much. Just the Bioship."

Silence rang over the communicators for a full ten seconds before Red Hood shouted, "Nothing much!? You're ex-team is coming! How the hell are we going to take them down when they've got the jump!?"

"Well let's think about this," Arsenal said, "Nightwing, what do you guess their ETA is?"

"About three minutes," the younger vigilante informed, "From what I've learned over the past few weeks, Batgirl, Superboy, Miss Martian, Beast Boy, Kid Flash, Artemis, and the copycat are all onboard. You guys won't have to worry about the replacement though."

"Why not?" Starfire asked. At the same time, Nightwing heard the telltale swish of a cape come from behind him. The teen smirked.

"He's with me."

* * *

Timothy Drake knew there would be trouble. He knew that there would be some unexpected variable coming into play. That's how these missions always went. This time, _this time_, he was going to make sure everything went according to plan. It was important that the Outlaws lost; who knew what they'd do with a stash of kryptonite?

Understand that, as a kid growing up in the richer areas of Gotham, Tim found himself alone an awful lot. He found himself _bored_ an awful lot. So naturally, people watching became a hobby of his. This hobby soon turned into an obsession. He couldn't stop himself from noticing what other people were doing, analyzing their each and every action, figuring out their lives at a glance. It was easy, and for a kid with a lot of time, it was fun.

Then he met Richard Grayson.

See, Tim once had too much free time on his hands, so spying on his ex-acrobat neighbor was an easy way to pass the time. Besides, Dick was his hero, who doesn't stare at their heroes? In the case of Richard Grayson, Tim's people watching skills were really put to the test. Grayson and Wayne. Tim's neighbors. Two mysteries in the same house. They lived a secret life RIGHT NEXT DOOR to him for YEARS and he hadn't noticed. Never had Tim's observation skills failed him so massively.

Of course, he could push aside his embarrassing failure when taking into account that eventually he did figure out Robin and Richard were one and the same. That's a feat that nobody else can say they've accomplished.

Then Richard Grayson, Tim's role model, the kid the Drake heir would give anything to be like, died. Suffice to say, the boy's life literally collapsed around him. Who was he going to look up to? Who was he going to hang out with (or stalk depending on one's perspective) during all of those long charity events?

Who was going to keep Batman in check?

Well, for the (at the time) twelve year old, the answer was blatantly obvious. He, Timothy Drake, would make sure Batman didn't do anything stupid. He never meant to become Robin, honestly. That's just the way events unfolded, and quite frankly, Tim was perfectly okay with that. He loved being a hero! It was his contribution to society, and he believed that Dick would approve of his course. After all, nobody had a stronger sense of right and wrong than the original Robin, and Tim just knew that Dick would want someone to preserve his idea of justice.

And who better to know what Dick's sense of justice was, than the people watching kid next door?

Through his training under Batman over the three years since picking up the mantle of Robin, Tim's skills in deductive reasoning flourished, especially when mixed in with his heightened observational abilities. With his aptitude using a bo staff and his newly acquired detective talents, Tim was truly the optimum pick to be the new Robin.

Another thing that he'd gained through his years under Batman's tutelage was the infamous Bat Paranoia. It wasn't obvious in the first Robin until after his death, but even that fun-loving side-kick had taken Murphy's Law into account. How could one not be considered paranoid after creating thousands of highly detailed plans scattered between a computer and a freakishly huge filing cabinet?

It was this very paranoia that led Robin, the new one, to pay extra close attention to his window as the Bioship flew over Blüdhaven. He knew there would be trouble, so he was going to find it before it could ruin the mission, especially one of such a high caliber. Or at least, high on the Bat Clan's list of important villains to stop. Red Hood was a rather personal bad guy to the Batfamily, after all. Not that they'd explain why to any of the other heroes. Some things just aren't meant to be revealed.

So naturally, with all of this pressure and paranoia floating around in his brain, Robin paid extra close attention the silhouette he spotted perched atop of the Star Labs building. The figure wouldn't have been noticeable to anyone but a Bat, and maybe a Super. It blended into the cover of night like it belonged there. The only reason Robin spotted him/her was due to the light being cast off from the glowing billboard nearby.

At first the Boy Wonder didn't say anything. He didn't want to raise an alarm unless necessary. He just kept a vigil on the dark figure. Its actions, its movements, Robin wanted to see them all; he wanted to be positive that this silhouette was going to be an issue.

That's when he noted suspicious act number one. The figure pulled out binoculars. Even through the dark and distance, Robin could tell that's what the device was. Furthermore, based off of the angle, the figure's attention was clearly directed at LexCorp. Definitely suspicious, but not enough. The figure could easily be an extra security guard set there to view things from a distance.

The real clincher in Robin's suspicions was when the figure seemed to look up and he spotted the Bioship. How was this the clincher? Well, normal people don't know how to spot a Martian camouflaged vehicle, this guy/girl did. Why else would someone stare exactly where the ship was flying, and follow it with his/her gaze? Then, if that wasn't enough, the figure had jumped upon spotting the Bioship. Obviously the presence of a hero wasn't a positive thing for the figure.

As he witnessed the silhouette begin conversing over what Robin assumed to be an earpiece, he knew he'd found the variable. The variable, in this case, was a lookout. A lookout whose job was now complete. A lookout who'd just alerted the Outlaws that one or more persons were coming to prevent them from retrieving the kryptonite.

"Miss M," Robin stated, eyes never leaving the window, "you may need to let me off now."

"What?" the confused Martian asked.

"I just spotted the Outlaws' lookout, and from the looks of things, we just lost the element of surprise."

"You sure you can handle it?" Batgirl questioned, obviously not wanting to deviate from the plan, but going with Robin's judgment nonetheless.

"Positive. It's you guys who have the real challenge; I'm just stopping a hired lackey. I'll probably be able rejoin you in a bit," the Boy Wonder responded confidently.

"Alright then," Batgirl consented hesitantly, "Miss Martian, drop off Robin at the nearest building."

"Understood," Megan said before opening a hole in the floor of the Bioship.

Robin nodded to Batgirl in farewell before hopping out of the ship, already mentally going through what he was about to do. It wouldn't be that hard anyway. Hired thugs were easy. He'd be done with the lookout and on his way to join his teammates in a matter of minutes.

Or at least, that's what Robin had thought.

For the second time in his life, Tim's observation skills failed him massively.

He'd believed that the lookout was a dumb minion, so imagine his surprise when, upon his arrival to the top of Star Labs, Robin found himself staring at the back of someone much more difficult to defeat. Robin, the Boy Wonder, found that the lookout for the criminal group known as the Outlaws was actually Nightwing. Nightwing, the supposed hero of Blüdhaven, was helping a crime be committed in his own city.

Yep. Tim had definitely failed to properly observe the situation.

* * *

Robin stood firmly in his spot as Nightwing turned to face him, a smirk playing at the edges of the elder's mouth. "Boy Wonder?" he asked as he walked up to the younger vigilante, "How random that you're in Blüdhaven, instead of Gotham City, where your mentor, Batman, lives."

"Yeah, well, how random that you're this close to a crime in progress and not doing anything about it," the Boy Wonder retorted, slightly disconcerted by the older hero. Robin had thought about having a face to face with the only person crazy enough to protect Blüdhaven for some time now, but not once had he thought that their first meeting would be like this. Or that Nightwing would look like that. Honestly, the guy was probably around Wally's age, if not a bit younger. Why was a teenager the sole protector of a city more violent than Gotham?

"There's always a crime in progress in Blüdhaven, kid, that's just the way this place is," Nightwing stated nonchalantly, "What I want to know is why you're here."

"I'm stopping a crime. In case you didn't know, the Outlaws are stealing kryptonite from LexCorp as we speak. Oh wait, you do know, don't you? After all, you are their lookout," Robin accused.

"Ouch, that stung a bit Robs. I'm a vigilante risking my life daily to maintain order and justice within this once grand city. I would never stoop so low as to…" Blüdhaven's vigilante trailed off. With a shrug, the hero then admitted, "Alright, you got me. I am assisting the Outlaws."

"Wait, what? You're confessing?"

"Yep."

"Just like that?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Well...okay then…" Honestly, Robin had absolutely no idea what to do now. For one thing, he had not been expecting Nightwing to openly state that he was aiding and abetting criminals. The Boy Wonder also had no clue how he was supposed to go about apprehending the older vigilante. After all, the guy was labeled a hero. Of course, heroes didn't do illegal things, so wouldn't that technically make Nightwing a villain in disguise?

"If that's all you wanted," Nightwing began impatiently, interrupting Robin's thought process, "I do have a job to do."

"Actually, I do mind. I'm here to prevent you from helping the Outlaws out any further," Robin asserted whilst getting into a fighting stance.

Nightwing glanced at the younger teen and sighed. "You know, I was really hoping to avoid conflict tonight. It is supposed to be my night off after all. Oh well, _c'est la vie_." Without even bothering to look like he was paying attention, Nightwing tossed two bolas at Robin. Said bird was incapable of dodging the unexpected (and fast) projectiles. One bola smoothly wrapped around Robin's torso, pinning his arms to his body, and the other tied around his ankles, causing him to face plant on the ground. From this position, the Boy Wonder could only watch helplessly as Nightwing reactivated his earpiece.

"How're things on your end?" Nightwing asked into the device. Seeing as he couldn't exactly hear what was being said on the other side, Robin was only capable of catching half of the conversation, but he did not like what he could hear.

"No, that won't work. You've got to get him angry. Try mocking him for his recent breakup…Yeah, him and the Martian broke up…Yeah, it's surprising and yet not surprising. Can you just stay focused? Now, while you distract him, Star can come at him with the kryptonite."

Robin's eyes widened. How did Nightwing know about Connor and Megan's split? Wait, how did he know that Connor and Megan were together?

"Alright Arsenal, I'll help, keep your panties on... Dude, I don't care if you're a boxers kind of guy! It's just an expression…Please stay on track, I swear, you guys are a bunch of children…Offense completely intended dude. Anyway, do you want help or not?...Yeah, I thought so. So what you have to do is hit Artemis first. From what I've been told, she's currently being distracted by Star. All you have to do is shoot a gas arrow from behind and she'll be out like a light. That'll distract Kid Flash long enough for you to hit him with the foam."

"That's fighting dirty!" Robin exclaimed from where his was still laying.

Nightwing turned towards him and frowned. "I honestly do not give a damn. Now, don't interrupt me again."

Once again, Robin's eyes widened. Nightwing had just scared him a little. His voice held such venom and malice in it that his earlier devil may care attitude seemed like a fluke. Or maybe the scary Nightwing was the fluke. Either way, Robin was not going to reveal his uneasiness to the older teen. He was currently completely tied up and he hadn't even launched an attack first, his pride didn't need another hit.

"You brought a flamethrower!?" Nightwing's surprised declaration drew Robin's attention away from his developing self-pity. The Boy Wonder was also pleased to note that Nightwing appeared to be back to normal; obviously the venomous personality was the fluke…Wait…back it up a bit. _Who brought a flamethrower!? _Robin thought, and had he been in the mind link, he was pretty sure everyone would've winced at his mental volume.

"Well, that'll do then. With Miss Martian out of the way, all you'll have to do is take down BG…Beast Boy's still conscious? Star can handle him. He's not trained well enough yet, so if she can force him to change form quickly enough, he'll tire out. Then all she'll have to do is hit him. As for BG, Hood, you and Arsenal are more than capable of taking her out…Oh, the kid? He's a bit tied up at the moment…Yeah, still awake." Nightwing turned his head and sighed in exasperation. "Yeah guys, I'll contact you later. The little twerp is freeing himself."

Nightwing shifted his attention to Tim, and with a devilish smile he said, "So Bird Brain, how about you and I have a little chat?"

* * *

**A/N: It is finished. As I said, not much is happening yet. But it is just the beginning :)**

******COMING UP IN NIGHTWING: ALLEGIANCES: A discussion amongst birds, moral debates, and Nightwing being more awesome than Robin**

******PM me questions or concerns! I'll do my best to answer! Hope you enjoyed!**

******RANDOM AUTHOR'S CHALLENGE: I've seen people do this before, where they ask their readers random questions so...Who knows which show I've recently fallen in love with (and finished)? What show currently holds your heart?**

******Till sometime in August, BYE!**


	3. Debates

**A/N: Ha! It's still August and I'm posting! Anyway, quick warning before the chapter starts, I typed this up shortly after I'd taken an ethics class so...you'll be able to tell later...**

**Oh, THANK YOU to all of my awesome reviewers, favorite-ers, and followers!**

**As school has restarted, I was in a bit of a rush to get this posted, but I'll look it over again ASAP. It's not very edited. On the note of being in a rush, there will be no responses until I actually find some free time to do them.**

**Some language in this chapter, as per usual.**

**I own nothing.**

* * *

**Chapter 3- Debates**

* * *

"_The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum..."__―__Noam Chomsky__,__The Common Good_

* * *

Robin had seen a lot in his fifteen years, particularly from ages twelve to fifteen, but never before had he seen someone quite like Nightwing. The savior of Blüdhaven was a mystery to the Boy Wonder. The guy was just full of surprises. For example, surprise number one, Nightwing was helping the Outlaws. The Outlaws equal criminals, Nightwing equals a hero, hero does not equal villain! Surprise number two, Nightwing was not a full grown man. He was actually only a few years older than Robin, or at least, that's what the Boy Wonder assumed. Surprise number three, Nightwing knew the weaknesses and personal lives of every single member on Young Justice, as proven when he instructed the Outlaws how to take all of the sidekicks down. Finally, surprise number four, Nightwing had really good hearing.

"How'd you know I was free?" Robin, who was now standing and liberated of the bolas that had been restraining him, asked.

"Lucky guess," Nightwing responded.

"Okay, why are you doing this?"

"I'm doing this to help the Outlaws," the older teen stated very slowly, as though he was speaking to a young child.

"I understand that," the Boy Wonder snarled through gritted teeth, he simply despised being talked down to. This Nightwing guy was really getting on his nerves. "What I want to know is why you're helping them? They're robbing from an establishment in your city, and you're letting them do it. Why?"

"Oh that. You see Birdie, you aren't taking into account that we're stealing from LexCorp."

"Well, of course I'm taking that into account. Who else would want a kryptonite shipment?"

"Exactly!" Nightwing said as though that answered everything. Upon seeing Robin's expression of confusion, however, he decided to elaborate. "Who would want kryptonite? What is the point? Simple, people who have a grudge against Superman…or Superboy, but it's most likely Superman. Let us look at this from a more logical stand point, shall we?" As he spoke, the older vigilante began to walk in a circle around Robin.

"Fact, Lex Luthor and Superman don't get along," Nightwing continued animatedly, "Fact, Lex Luthor owns LexCorp. Fact, Superman's greatest weakness is kryptonite. Fact, LexCorp of Blüdhaven is receiving a massive kryptonite shipment. Inference, Luthor is developing a weapon here in Blüdhaven, away from the watchful eyes of the League, to take down Superman. Inference, Luthor's weapon needs kryptonite to function. Hypothesis, if Luthor does not receive the shipment of kryptonite, then his weapon is useless." Nightwing stopped his circling so that he was standing directly in front of the Boy Wonder. "Conclusion, LexCorp must not obtain the kryptonite."

"But it's still stealing. Until it has been proven to be illegal, you can't just barge in and take whatever you think is going to cause a problem."

"Consider in being proactive."

"Consider it being wrong."

"How, exactly, do you know for certain that it's wrong?"

"Because it's stealing! Despite your pretenses, what you're doing is a criminal act, and like any other criminal, you deserve to be brought to justice."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, because Nightwing's body instantly tensed up. His casual air turned cold, if not dangerous. "Justice?" he asked bitterly, "Justice is a lie."

"No it's not," Robin stated firmly. Dick Grayson had lived by the laws of justice, and if there was one thing the newer Boy Wonder would not tolerate, it was someone insulting his idol's defining principles.

Behind his mask, Nightwing rolled his eyes. With spite in his voice, the older hero said, "I'm pretty sure it is. Justice is defined as fairness or reasonableness, especially in the way people are treated or decisions are made. Justice is the legal system, or the act of applying or upholding the law. Justice is a good reason; it's a judge. Yet, who is one to judge another? You're deprecating my choices, but how are you so sure that your own decisions are right?"

"Well, at least _my_ decisions are legal."

"Only by our laws, but if you were to look into the rules of other nations, you'd find that they don't all match. Besides, these laws are created by men and women no less flawed than you or I. So, who's to say that everything we know is wrong or right, legal or illegal? Only someone who has never made a mistake can decide, and I have yet to meet someone like that."

Surprise number five, Nightwing was an unexpectedly deep thinker.

"But the qualifications of someone to create laws have nothing to do with the concept of justice. As you said, justice is fairness, and isn't it fair for criminals to atone for their actions in a court of law? Isn't it fair for them to pay for their crimes by going to prison?"

"That's an amateur ideal, kid," Nightwing said forlornly, "And one day you'll come to realize that it just doesn't work like that. Think about it. Criminals, like Gotham's resident Joker, kill dozens of people without batting an eyelash, yet they don't get the electric chair. They plead insanity, they bribe the officials, they eliminate witnesses, and they get off easier than what they should. Criminals like that are hopeless cases. And with them you should take Hammurabi's Code into effect."

"An eye for an eye."

"Precisely."

Robin frowned in contemplation. "So," the Boy Wonder began thoughtfully, "Does this mean you approve of killing?"

Nightwing shrugged and said, "I- I don't know."

Surprise number six, Nightwing wasn't as confident in his views as he made himself appear.

Silence ascended the rooftop as both heroes mulled over what the elder said. For his part, Robin now believed he knew where Nightwing stood morally. From his deductions, the fifteen year old concluded that the older vigilante was going through a form of personal crisis. The older teen clearly had something happen to him that made him begin questioning what was right. Why else would he have such well thought out arguments? He was obviously thinking this stuff over constantly, which was causing his lack of conviction. Robin still had no idea if Nightwing's stint as a vigilante was a direct result of this life altering event, or if the other hero would've become Nightwing regardless of the circumstances.

Nightwing was just wondering why he'd admitted that he didn't know something, particularly to the little upstart replacement.

The first to make noise was Nightwing, in the form of clearing his throat. "So…" he said somewhat awkwardly.

"So…" Robin repeated, shifting uncomfortably. Although, for some reason he couldn't place, he was happy to note that Nightwing's playful demeanor was back.

"I, uh, guess we should fight now."

"Yeah, sure…wait…What!?"

"Oh calm yourself; it'll be more of a spar. I'm curious to see how the copy does in comparison to the original."

"I'm not a copy! And how would you know how good the first Robin was? You weren't even around when he was!"

"I've always been around Birdo. I just came out as Nightwing after the first kid's untimely death. As to your not being a copy, I'll grant you originality points on the red costume, but you kept his title," Nightwing sneered, "You're running around with a dead guy's name."

"I kept his name in memory of him," Robin seethed. Just who did this guy think he was to judge? Especially after he just ranted about fairness and judgments not even ten minutes earlier!

"You what?" Nightwing's surprise shocked the Boy Wonder.

"Robin was my hero. After he died…I lost my role model and despite my sadness, I knew Batman had it worse. I couldn't sit around and mope while the Dark Knight went solo, especially since he was getting violent again. So, I did what I believed Robin would want me to do, and now I'm the new one. I wouldn't be where I am today without his influence, therefore, taking up his mantle was the best I could do as thanks." Robin admitted, without giving away specifics.

"Get into a fighting position," Nightwing suddenly ordered; his voice was fierce and filled with…something Robin couldn't quite place. Was it pride? Nostalgia? Whatever it was, it was an emotion that made the new Boy Wonder even more puzzled by the vigilante before him.

In confusion, Robin obeyed the order, but his expression clearly displayed his utter bewilderment by the situation.

"You want to make the first guy proud to call you his successor," Nightwing explained, "I'm going to help. We'll spar and I'll give you pointers that Batsy may not have mentioned yet." Blüdhaven's hero smiled deviously. "It'll also help us in our explanations to our allies later. I doubt that your team would be happy to hear that all you did was talk. This way, you can say you lost to me in a fight."

"What makes you so sure that I'll lose? I have been doing this for a few years now," Robin boasted, trying not to be too confident. After all, Nightwing has only had about a year of real heroic action. Robin had been patrolling Gotham since he was twelve.

Nightwing smirked. It looked familiar to Robin, but he just shoved the thought away for now. He had a much more pressing matter to think about.

"Now Birdo, choose your weapon."

* * *

At first, if anyone were to have noticed Robin and Nightwing, it would appear as though an epic battle was about to ensue. Robin with his bo staff and Nightwing with his eskrima sticks, both vigilantes obvious masters with their selected weapons. It looked as though the skirmish would last hours.

If anyone had been watching, they'd have been positively giddy with excitement when the legendary Boy Wonder charged the fledgling mysterious hero known as Nightwing. Unfortunately, their excitement would die immediately when Nightwing easily sidestepped the attack, flicked his right eskrima stick upwards, and disarmed Robin.

Robin, eyes wide at having been relieved of his beloved staff so early on in the spar, found himself going on the defensive. As Nightwing swung one of his eskrima sticks, the Boy Wonder had to tuck and roll in order to avoid having his head bashed in.

"Are you crazy!?" the teen practically shouted, "We aren't having an actual fight! It's a spar! You could have killed me!"

Nightwing chuckled. "I was gauging your ability. If I noticed you couldn't dodge I would've altered my attack to hit you elsewhere." Noticing that his statement had done little to reassure the younger boy Nightwing added, "Relax Birdo, I'm a trained professional. I know what I'm doing."

Robin took the other hero's momentary distraction to go on the offensive. Sending out a kick which normally would've knocked the weapon out of his enemy's hands, the Boy Wonder found his foot hitting nothing but air.

"Good try," the voice of Nightwing spoke up from behind Robin, causing the boy to whirl around in surprise, "Unfortunately, your angle was too low. I was able to avoid your attack by going up. Bend your other knee a bit more next time."

Robin gritted his teeth. Sure he liked to learn how to improve, but for some reason, showing the faults in his technique to Nightwing was more embarrassing than to members of the League or Young Justice. It was as though some part of Robin wanted Nightwing to be impressed with him.

Almost like how he'd wanted Dick to be impressed with him...

A stinging pain on his left side brought Robin out of his thoughts.

"Don't zone out in the middle of a fight. No matter what you're thinking, you can put it on hold until your opponent is neutralized," Nightwing advised, bringing his left eskrima stick back to his side and returning his weapons to their designated compartment on his suit.

With a nod, the Boy Wonder got into a fighting stance. This time he waited. Earlier, he hadn't been expecting Nightwing to be the clearly superior fighter. He'd figured he could land a few hits, but now he knew he couldn't. He knew that the older vigilante had tricks up his sleeve.

Surprise number seven, Nightwing was extremely good at hand-to-hand combat.

Wait…Hand-to-hand…With a smirk, Robin took a step backwards. Sure, Nightwing could dominate close range, that much was obvious from the security footage Godfrey had aired, but could he from a distance?

Faster than the eye could see, Robin pulled out a birdarang and flung it at Nightwing. With a smirk, the Boy Wonder watched as his projectile sped right at its target…only to abruptly be knocked out of the sky by an object similar in structure, but darker in color.

"Like it Birdo?" Nightwing asked nonchalantly, "I have some of those too. By the way, you were predictable on that one. Taking a step back during a lull in the fight? Evan a fucking idiot could tell you were planning something long range."

Surprise number eight, Nightwing was indeed quite formidable from long range as well.

Robin frowned at his own stupidity. Of course his step back had been obvious. That was a basic lesson!

The Boy Wonder's internal berating was cut short, however, when Nightwing ran towards him. As this was the first time the older hero initiated an attack during their "spar," Robin had absolutely no idea what was going to happen next. With that in mind, he shifted his weight to the balls of his feet and swiftly got into a defensive stance in preparation.

Once Nightwing was close enough, his fist shot out to where Robin's head was. The boy ducked under the attack and attempted to swipe Nightwing's feet out from under him, only to have the darker clad vigilante flip over his head. Rapidly jumping back up to his feet, Robin had to instantaneously hold his arms up to block Nightwing's punches. So focused was he on the punches, Robin didn't notice when Nightwing's body turned slightly, or when his right arm went down instead of up.

He did, however, notice this change when he felt a pain in his gut and he was sent stumbling backwards.

That move had been scrappy. That move had been choppy. That move had been dirty. It wasn't something that a professional taught someone; it was a move that untrained street fighters used. Yet, Nightwing managed to make it work in his favor, despite the different technique.

Surprise number nine, Nightwing had multiple fighting styles.

"Alright Wing, I think the kid gets it," the voice of the infamous Arsenal sounded out from behind Robin, causing the teen to jump.

Nightwing smiled, and if he had to guess, Robin would say that it was caused by his obvious surprise. "Come on Arsenal, I'm just helping the poor birdie out," he said, and then to Robin he added, "You need to work on your defensive stance. Had your legs been shoulder width apart, you wouldn't have been sent back as much by that punch. You're also very, painfully, predictable in every aspect of your fighting. I suggest training with someone you don't normally train with. That way you'll have more skills under your belt. The last thing I need to tell you is that you need to focus more. Sure, observing everything is fine and dandy, but it opens up gaps in your attentiveness to the fight at hand, making it easier on your opponent to land a hit."

"Make sure the baddie is down and out before you move on," Red Hood's voice piped up from next to Arsenal, the anti-hero having just arrived. "I believe I told you that one Wing Nut."

"I'm just passing the info down, Hood."

Red Hood snorted. "At least tell me you bruised the kid a bit. I'd hate to see the newest Replacement getting away uninjured after a fight."

"Yeah Hood," Nightwing said with a roll of his eyes, "I got some good hits in. His side and gut in particular. Although, I think his pride is what got injured the most today."

"Only the side and gut? Just how easy were you going on the little punk?"

"About as easy as he goes on you!" Arsenal butted in. He was not about to let a chance to insult Red Hood fly by.

"You, shut the hell up!" the angry helmet wearing anti-hero shouted, pointing a gun at his supposed ally.

Arsenal rolled his masked eyes and turned his attention to the youngest boy on the roof. "Robin, I haven't seen you since you were twelve still. How's life with the League?" the archer asked, completely ignoring Red Hood's angry sigh as he returned the gun to its appropriate place.

"It's fine," Robin answered wearily. He hadn't minded Nightwing so much, seeing as how the guy was considered a vigilante by the public, and the League, but Arsenal and Red Hood were different stories. Both young men were on the League's bad list, and the still rather inexperienced Boy Wonder wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to handle this situation.

Noticing the boy's discomfort, Nightwing chuckled and announced, "Hey, Hood, Arsenal, you're disconcerting the kid! Why don't you two head out? I'll meet up with you guys to divvy up the kryptonite at the usual spot in about ten minutes."

Arsenal nodded. "His teammates are all restrained in Area 16," the red-head stated.

"Which alley?"

"Twenty nine, I believe."

"Alright, catch you two later," Nightwing said, waving off the two older young men.

"We'll hold you to it," Arsenal agreed as he and Red Hood disappeared into the night.

Robin released a sigh of relief once they were gone. A chuckle from Nightwing drew the younger teen's attention. Apparently, the older boy found the Boy Wonder's discomfort amusing.

"What's wrong Birdo? Feeling a bit overwhelmed?" Nightwing asked while pulling up his wrist computer's holoscreen.

"I'm not feeling whelmed, that's for sure," Robin mumbled, curious about what Nightwing was doing, and why he had a holocomputer. Those things were expensive.

"Whelmed?" the older of the two teens questioned with a somewhat nervous laugh, "What's that mean?"

"It's the middle ground between overwhelmed and underwhelmed…It's something my predecessor came up with."

"…I see. Anything else your predecessor came up with?"

"Well, yes." Robin didn't know whether to be offended by the amusement in Nightwing's voice or not. The fact that the guy was wearing a mask and staring attentively at his holoscreen didn't help either.

"Please, share these other made up words. I'd simply love to hear them."

That was definitely sarcasm. Robin was now offended. "Listen here! You have no right to mock the first Robin! He was-"

"Yeah, yeah, he was your hero," Nightwing interrupted, "Sorry for my lack of enthusiasm, but I'm trying to give you the coordinates of your Team. They should appear on your glove's holocomputer right…about…now."

Sure enough, Robin's holoscreen popped up with the coordinates listed in big, bold letters. "Oh, uh, thanks, but how did you-"

"No need to thank me," he interrupted, "I was, after all, the person who helped the Outlaws beat them."

"Which reminds me, why do you want some of the kryptonite the Outlaws stole? I mean, you'll be in possession of stolen property and-"

"Hey, get rid of that stick up your ass and relax!" Nightwing interceded, "Curiosity killed the cat. Besides, maybe I wanted some just in case. One never knows when they're going to face a Kryptonian."

Robin looked down in contemplation. "But all known Kryptonian's are heroes. You don't think that…wait…I do not have a stick up my…" Robin's head snapped up, only to find that Nightwing had vanished.

With a sigh, the Boy Wonder pulled up the coordinates again. He grimaced internally as he thought about the huge lecture he was going to receive for abandoning the mission in order to learn more about Nightwing.

Then again, he'd abandoned the mission to fight the lookout. Nightwing was the lookout, and they had fought. Of course, he would refrain from telling the others that Nightwing was the guy he'd set out to stop. He would tell them that the lookout had been the superior fighter. He wouldn't tell them anything about the time they spent talking about things not related to the mission. He wouldn't tell them that the fight had been more of a spar. He definitely wouldn't tell anyone that two of the three Outlaws had showed up and he'd done nothing.

Robin knew his actions on this particular mission were less than commendable, but he'd been curious about Nightwing. The mysterious hero was only caught on camera once after over a year of vigilante work.

Now, Robin had a lot to evaluate. After all, he loved to people watch. Before becoming Robin, he'd had a lot of time to do so. After the loss of his main mystery, he'd felt like there wasn't anyone left who could be as puzzling.

Then he met Nightwing.

Robin smirked to himself as he grappled off the building. Things were beginning to look quite interesting in Blüdhaven.

Surprise number ten, Nightwing may prove to be as great of a mystery as Dick Grayson.

* * *

**A/N: That's the end of chapter three. Hope you enjoyed! See what I said about ethics? **

**AUTHOR'S QUESTION/CHALLENGE: In Nightwing: Origins, which four heroes did Aqualad introduce in the end? (NO LOOKING! That's considered cheating) Do you know all of their ID's?**

**COMING UP IN NIGHTWING: ALLEGIANCES: Robin and Batman chat, Jason and Dick argue, and Roy and Jade have a plan.**

**If you have questions, concerns, find a error (I make a lot of them). or an inconsistency (which is highly possible), please PM me!**


	4. Diversions

**A/N: Smell that? It's the terrible stench of yet another unedited chapter! YAY! Ugh, my classes this year are kicking my butt! Erm...**

**I own nothing. Crass language warning!**

**Oh yeah, this is a filler. I need it to set the stage. If it gets a bit confusing, I apologize now. **

**Review Responses:**

_**AmberStar1492: **_**That was a lot of updates in the first sentence! Anyway, thanks so much for the super positive review! It made me super happy! Especially since it brought the review number to 60! I love it when the reviews end in a 0! Unless, of course, it's just 0...Umm...Thanks again! ^^**

_**Rey:**_** Thanks so much for complimenting my Nightwing/Red Hood reactions! Their dynamic was a major factor in the first story, so I've been working particularly hard to mold their brotherly/frenemy-esque relationship. Unfortunately, Red Hood won't be in this one as much. I'm bringing in more Tim though!**

_**kuromi123: **_**YAY! You're back! I'm happy to see that you're enjoying the sequel so far! There really hasn't been much action yet, but there's some coming up. I can tell you right now that chapters 10 and 11 (I think) will be emotional roller-coasters! And yes, Tim is definitely over thinking things! Thanks for reviewing! **

**_X59: _ Haha! Yep, Timmy is a little hypocrite! He's so busy focusing on Nightwing's inconsistent views, that he's ignoring his own. Despite the fact that I do like Tim, I constantly feel the need to poke fun at him. Thank you for the review! **

* * *

**Chapter 4- Diversions**

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_"If our condition were truly happy, we would not seek diversion from it in order to make ourselves happy."- Blaise Pascal_

* * *

Batman raised an eyebrow at the scene before him. The antics of teenagers ceased to surprise him after experiencing both Jason's and Dick's adolescent humor. This, however, was a new one. Now, so far out of all of the Robins, Tim had been the most mature, but Batman was going to begin seriously recalculating his judgment on this one. Honestly, what was he supposed to think when, upon entering Mount Justice for debriefing, he found every member of the team he'd sent out to stop the Outlaws covered in various substances, with crudely drawn images on their faces? Meanwhile, Robin was completely unscathed.

All signs pointed to a prank. The glares being sent in the Boy Wonder's direction, the fact that he was the only one not a victim, and his cheeky smirk. Clearly a prank…Which would be the first time in his stint as Robin that Batman had seen the results of a Timothy Drake prank. Although, the timing was all wrong…The Team just got back from a very strenuous mission. Tim wasn't one to joke around until the mission was complete. So, either his original assessment of Tim had been incorrect (which was unlikely, seeing as he was Batman) or this "prank" was more directly linked with the Outlaws and Robin had done something to upset his teammates.

That was a much more plausible occurrence.

Satisfied with his conclusion, Batman finally addressed the young heroes before him, or more precisely, he addressed Batgirl. After all, the girl had been assigned leader for the duration of Aqualad's recovery.

"Batgirl," the Dark Knight's gravelly voice began, "Report."

The girl in question stepped forward and gulped. Upon seeing this, Batman couldn't refrain from sighing minutely; whenever Barbara Gordon showed a sign of nervousness, something obviously was wrong.

"The mission was a failure." Batgirl said in disappointment, before shooting a glare at Robin. "We had an uncalculated absence while facing the Outlaws." Of course, the normally threatening look the Boy Wonder was on the receiving end of was extremely hampered by the sharpie drawn moustache on the girl's face and the dried red paint splattered across her costume. Both of which were presumably caused by the Outlaws.

"You see Batman," Kid Flash said, his natural chattiness preventing him from remaining silent any longer. For his part, the red-headed speedster was covered in remnants of what Batman assumed to be polyurethane foam courtesy of Arsenal. The young man also appeared to have…smiley faces drawn on his cheeks. "Robbie found a lookout hired by the Outlaws. He said he'd handle it and join us later, but he didn't."

Batman raised an eyebrow at this. Robin didn't keep his word? Never once had the newest Boy Wonder made a promise he wasn't one hundred percent confident that he could keep.

Kid Flash, oblivious to Batman's inner musings, continued by saying, "To make matters worse, he won't tell us anything about what happened. All he's said is that the he'd underestimated his opponent and that the guy was clearly the better fighter."

With a nod, the Dark Knight turned his attention towards his protégée. "Is this true?" he asked.

The fifteen year old shifted uncomfortably, but nodded. "Yes, it is," he admitted, before sending Batman a look that clearly said _I need to talk to you in private. _

"Very well, Robin, come with me to the Batcave. Everyone else," Batman gave the group a once over (noting the ash covered Miss Martian, dust layered Superboy, and somewhat yellow tinged Beast Boy) before ordering, "get cleaned up. Batgirl, I expect a full report by patrol tomorrow night."

That being said, the Dark Knight headed towards the zeta tube with Robin hot on his heels.

* * *

"Honey, I'm home!" Nightwing's jovial voice rang out as the vigilante entered the foreclosed apartment currently being used as the Outlaws' base.

The older group of self-proclaimed antiheroes all turned towards the window, where the black and blue clad teen had entered, with various expressions. Arsenal looked impassive, his attention being completely directed to the four black crates in the center of the empty room. Most likely, these crates contained the kryptonite. That, now that Nightwing thought about it, was the perfect number. Four crates of kryptonite, four people involved in retrieving it. The hero of Blüdhaven smirked as he thought over what he intended to do with his share of the highly sought after rock.

Next to Arsenal stood Starfire, the alien was smiling brightly at her younger friend. She was new to Earth, having crash landed shortly after Dick chose the name Nightwing as his hero persona. To be quite honest, Nightwing wasn't sure on the exact details as to how or why the Tamaranean came to even be on Earth. He hadn't actually been there when Arsenal and Red Hood found her. In fact, Nightwing's first meeting of the orange-skinned girl had been a few weeks afterward when one night after patrol, he'd arrived at his apartment only to find her, a drop dead gorgeous woman seemingly three or four years his senior, standing in his kitchen with his figurative older brothers.

Diverting his eyes away from the beauty that had recently become his "older sister," something he was quite sad about seeing as now it'd be awkward to have any sort of romantic relationship with her, Nightwing finally noted his (sort of) actual older brother's helmetless look of annoyance.

"What?" he asked.

"What the hell!?" Red Hood snapped as the younger male.

"I repeat…what?"

"You were up against your Replacement, and all you do is give him a few bruises and injured pride? I'd have beaten the living shit out of the snot nosed brat!"

Nightwing rolled his eyes and calmly replied, "Jay, I may not exactly be a fan of the kid, but he's not so bad. He's got promise, but it's clear that his fighting needs a lot of work. Besides, I'm more ticked off at Batman anyway."

"That's true for both of us," Jason consented, "but if it weren't for that punk ass replacing you like that, you wouldn't have-"

"I get it," Dick interrupted through gritted teeth. Why did Jason feel the need to bring up _those_ particular memories?

Silence ensued as Red Hood simmered over his younger brother's lack of anger for the Replacement, Nightwing tried not to remember the majority of his fifteenth year, and Arsenal and Starfire stood aside awkwardly. Finally (after losing a game of rock, paper, scissors to Starfire) Arsenal spoke up.

"Um…shouldn't we get back to business?" he suggested, "I'd like to meet up with Cheshire later and..."

"Agreed," Nightwing said instantly, thankful for the change in topic.

While the others picked which crate they wanted, Red Hood hung back. Noticing this, Dick glanced at his older brother, and he couldn't help but wince when he noticed the look Jason was sending him from behind his domino mask.

It was a look that clearly said _I need to talk to you alone_.

* * *

Tim loved the Batcave. There. It was out. He simply adored the place. It was filled with the oddest of contraptions, as well as Batman's very own collection of souvenirs. There was an armory filled with countless batarangs, birdarangs, grappling guns…Basically anything a vigilante of Gotham would want, need, or just found plain interesting. Then there was the massive computer!

To put it plainly, it took Tim several months to finally stop fan-boying out whenever he entered the Cave. Even now, he still couldn't help but marvel at the extravagance of the place. Well, maybe extravagance wasn't the proper term. Wayne Manor was extravagant, the Batcave was just freaking awesome.

One thing that wasn't so awesome, however, was the clearly ticked off Batman giving him THE look. It was the one that he always used when Tim had done something particularly stupid as Robin. The one that said, _I'm not happy with you right now, but I'll give you the chance to explain yourself before I invoke some terrible form of punishment to ensure that you don't make the same mistake again. _

Tim cleared his throat and fidgeted with the edge of his left hand's glove, a habit he'd noticed himself doing whenever he was in trouble as Robin. "Well, I suppose you want to hear my side of the story then."

Batman pulled off his cowl, becoming Bruce Wayne once more, and nodded. "That would be preferable."

"Right. So, to begin, I'd like to let you know that I may not have told the Team the more important details of my encounter with the lookout this evening," Robin admitted sheepishly while following his mentor's lead in removing his mask.

"Tim…" Bruce warned, his tone making it blatantly obvious that the boy had better cut to the chase soon or else he'd be forced to clean the Batcave with a toothbrush.

"It was Nightwing." There. It was out. Tim had finally dropped the bombshell.

"Explain," Bruce ordered as he went over to the Batcomputer, pulling up what little information they had on Blüdhaven's vigilante.

"Nightwing was the lookout for the Outlaws," Tim restated, following his mentor to the computer. "When I originally went off to take down the lookout, I assumed he was an ordinary criminal. I didn't mean to take so long, but upon discovering it was actually Nightwing, I decided it was more crucial that I observe him while I could."

Bruce nodded in understanding. Ever since the vigilante was rumored to be patrolling Blüdhaven, Batman had taken a special interest in him. He was in Blüdhaven, a city questionably worse than Gotham. He was human, using techniques normal people wouldn't know. The main reason, though, that he'd garnered the attention of the Bat was because he was impossible to track. After every new hero appeared, Batman had been able to find them and learn all about them easily, but with Nightwing, he couldn't find anything.

In fact, he'd been so difficult to find, that Batman had briefly entertained the thought that Jason Todd was using the persona, but that idea was squashed quicker than it had arrived.

Nightwing was Batman's new project, and after actually meeting the guy, Tim understood why.

"What happened?" Batman asked, for though Bruce was without his cowl, the no-nonsense tone was indisputably Batman.

"Well," Tim began, briefly contemplating what he should and shouldn't tell the Dark Knight, "We talked. Based off of what I've gathered, he's still trying to create his official persona, and his morals are a bit wanton, almost as though he doesn't quite know what he believes anymore. But Bruce, he's just a kid."

That got the older man's attention. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, he's barely older than me. Two or three years older, I believe."

"Nightwing is a teenager…Anything else I should know?"

"Umm…he kept playing on my name, calling me anything _but _Robin. I was Boy Wonder, Robs, Birdo… not once was I just Robin. He also said that he's always been around, as if he has been in and around the hero and or villain community for ages. Then there was his fighting. Bruce, he fights like us. He fights like a Bat."

* * *

"I don't want to hear it Jay," Dick stated. The two brothers had returned to Dick's apartment not too long ago. After changing into their pajamas, plopping onto the couch, and turning on the television, Jason had finally opened his mouth to say something, only to have his younger brother beat him to it.

Nonetheless, he was Jason Todd, and just because Grayson didn't want to hear something, didn't mean that he was going to give up.

"Dickie," Jason said, earning a glare from Dick in the process, "you're going to hear what I have to say, and you're just going to have to suck it up. Capiche?"

"No, there's no capiche. I don't want to hear whatever lecture you have coming. You've been in town for two days after a month without any form of contact with me, and you expect me to give a crap about what you've got to say?" Dick ranted.

"I don't care if you care! You just have to fucking sit back and _listen_!" Jason shouted. Honestly, the kid's attitude needed some adjusting.

"Well make it quick," Dick gave in angrily, "And if this is about what happened with Rob 2.0…"

"It's not."

This caused Dick to blink in surprise, his burst of anger fading. "It's not?"

"Nope," Jason stated, somewhat pleased that he'd shocked the Golden Boy, "It's about the Outlaws."

"Alright…I'm listening."

Jason rolled his eyes. "So now you're interested."

"Shut up," Dick said somewhat sheepishly, "Now, what about the Outlaws."

"We're going to Berlin on Wednesday."

"W-what? But, Jay, you guys just got back!"

"I know that, Grayson, but yesterday Harper's source reported more of those murders occurring in Berlin."

"You mean Jade."

"Yeah, Jade's the source. Anyway, we've got a lead and the latest I'm willing to put it off is Wednesday."

"So, you're all leaving again. I mean, of course you are! Don't you know what this Friday is!?"

Jason winced. "The…first of April..."

"Exactly! Eight years, Jay. Eight. I spent the third alone, the fifth alone, the sixth with fucking Deathstroke, and now the eighth I will, once again, be alone!"

"Dick, I-"

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!" the seventeen year old interrupted with a shout, "I don't want to hear whatever crap you've got to say in your defense. I am sick and tired of being alone! God, it's like you don't even care! You're just like-"

"Dick!" Jason yelled, copying his younger brother by interrupting, "Don't you dare finish that sentence! Now, if you'd just shut the fuck up and let me finish what I was going to say, you'd know that I was going to ask if you wanted to come."

"…Come again?"

"You heard what I said. I asked if you wanted to come with the Outlaws to Berlin on Wednesday," Jason said slowly, like how one would address a confused child. Taking in Dick's stunned expression, Jason couldn't help but add, "Bet you feel like a real ass now."

That seemed to snap the teen out of his stupor. He gave a half-hearted glare at his older brother before asking, "Why now? You've never invited me to join you guys before."

"Well, you see…" Jason trailed off. He had absolutely no idea how to explain to the kid why exactly the Outlaws were now taking back their whole "you can come with us after you graduate high school" claim. Luckily for the antihero, he didn't have to find the right words because suddenly a loud banging sounded on the door.

Only one person had the guts to do that.

"OPEN UP THE DOOR, I'VE GOT A SURPRISE FOR YOU!" the predictable voice of Roy Harper shouted.

Jason groaned in annoyance, but got up and opened the door for the redheaded archer nonetheless. "What the hell do you want?"

Smirking, Roy waltzed into the apartment, ignoring Jason altogether, pulling the hand of his "surprise" behind him. After spending several years with the man as his teammate/ally, Jason could honestly say that he was not at all shocked at Roy's actions.

"I repeat," Jason stated, slamming the door behind him, "What the hell do you want?"

"Technically, I don't want anything," the archer responded coolly, releasing his grip on the surprise, i.e. Cheshire.

"I need to speak with Dick," Jade interceded before Jason could start an argument.

Said boy, upon hearing his name, flipped over the couch to join the conversation. "Why do you need to see me?" he asked curiously.

Jade smiled devilishly. "Let's just say a past client of mine, one I despise by the way, has put a hit out on someone coming to Blüdhaven on Wednesday."

"Ah, Nightwing business. Got it."

"Yeah."

"How about you two discuss this little mission in Dickie's room while I have a chat with Jay," Roy suggested (ordered) as he gently shooed his assassin girlfriend and figurative little brother away.

"Fine, whatever," Dick said, by now he was accustomed to getting sent off whenever Roy wanted to speak with Jason in private. Walking down the hallway towards his room though, a way to mess with Roy hit him. So, with a mischievous spark in his eye, the ex-Boy Wonder added, "I find it a brilliant idea to send a hormonal teenager and a hot young woman into a bedroom…alone."

Roy gaped.

"Don't worry Romeo," Jade said, "I'll only kiss him a little bit." Then she too headed toward the teen's room.

Roy gaped some more.

He continued to gape until he heard the door to the bedroom (where his hot girlfriend and a hormonal teenage boy now resided…alone) close. That's when the chuckling of one Jason Todd acquired his attention.

"Aww," the antihero mocked upon realizing he'd obtained Roy's attention, "Our little Dickie Bird is growing up. Soon we'll have to talk to him about the birds and the bees. Probably should have done that before sending him off with your girl though, eh Harper?"

"Har har har. Excuse me for not showing more enthusiasm," the archer said, rolling his eyes. "At least I _have_ a girl."

"You're right; you only have _a_ girl. I've got many."

"I don't think any of your 'many' women would find what you just said very amusing."

"That's if they ever find out," Jason stated, "Now, onto the more serious crap. What'd you want to talk to me about?"

Roy sighed. "Did you tell Dick yet?" he questioned.

"I was gonna tell him if he said he'd come, so not yet. No use getting the punk all worked up if it's a dead end."

"Jay, we both know that Deathstroke is up to something-"

"No, Harper, we don't," Jason interrupted. He was finding it quite difficult to refrain from yelling at his redheaded friend- _ally_. The guy was, after all, being a real dumbass. "Remember, we've found squat. None of our trips have given us a clue about where that bastard is hiding or if he's even involved."

"That's why I needed to talk to you. It's about our upcoming outing to Berlin. Jade's source there, he informed her of something that proves Deathstroke is involved."

"What?"

"…He saw him."

"Damn."

"Exactly. Now we've got visual of Deathstroke in Berlin. He's actually there this time…Do you still want Dick to come?"

"We need to make that son of a bitch pay for what he's done, Harper…"

"And bringing along Dick will lead him right back into that man's clutches. You, Kory, Jade, and I know that Deathstroke still wants him. We can't allow that to happen."

"There's something you're forgetting Roy Boy. Taking Dick will bring him closer to Deathstroke, but having him stay behind will leave him alone."

"And if Deathstroke is misleading us, Dick will have nobody to help him."

"God damn it, Harper!" Jason shouted in frustration, before promptly quieting himself down. He didn't want his annoying not-little-brother to overhear the conversation. "We've just been backed into a fucking corner."

"The man is known as one of the world's best tacticians, if not _the_ best," Roy said, "That's why it's important for Dick to stay here and take Jade's mission."

"Whattaya mean?"

"If Deathstroke is playing us, we've got to be prepared. Jade's mission is of a high enough profile that if Nightwing were to take it and succeed, the JL would be the ones backed into a corner. After all," Roy continued, "Nightwing is going to be quite popular amongst the people after he saves a well-liked senator from an assassination attempt."

"Which will make Nightwing big with the civilians," Jason continued, understanding what the archer was getting at.

"Meaning that the Justice League will have to become official allies with him in order to maintain positive relations with the people."

"You two love birds have got it all figured out, don't ya?"

Roy smirked. "Would you expect anything less? Now, all we have to do is wait for Dick to take up Jade's mission. After he does that, the pieces will all fall into place, Dick will be safe, and Deathstroke will feel the wrath of the Outlaws."

* * *

"Will you do it, kid?" Jade asked the teen sitting on the bed in front of her.

"He'll die if I don't; there really isn't much of a choice," Dick answered.

"You could always go with the Outlaws anyway. I know you're curious about what they've been up to."

"I am…but I'm still a hero. I know I am. I can't just let him die because I want to see what my brother and his friends are up to."

"Remember, there are three of them. If you can't find the third, he's in disguise."

"Got it, now, I guess I should tell Jay that I'm not going with him. And Jade?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks for the intel. I know you didn't have to tell me."

"It was no problem. Besides, I really hate the guy who put out the hit."

Dick appraised the young woman before him. He knew she wasn't telling him everything. He knew that all of his older friends were hiding something big from him. He knew this, but he also knew that whatever it was, if it were important, they'd tell him eventually. Hopefully it'd be before it was too late to stop something horrible from happening. As it were, Dick was aware that Jade's new mission for him was stopping him from finally learning the truth, but a man's life was at stake, and despite how much he'd changed in the past few years, he was not so far gone as to ignore that in favor of his own nosiness.

So, instead of bringing any of that up with Jade, the teen just nodded at his pseudo brother's girlfriend and smiled. He'd give into their little diversion this time. Next time, however, it'd be a different story.

* * *

**A/N: There's the end. The font on my computer is really small, and I don't feel like fixing the problem right now, so if you find any glaringly obvious mistakes that I missed, please inform me via PM. **

**AUTHOR'S QUESTION/CHALLENGE: DC or Marvel? In my own opinion, they both have their positives (basically everything Batman for DC, Loki and Gambit for Marvel) and negatives (Superman for DC, Spiderman for Marvel). What do you guys think? And yes, I don't like Superman or Spiderman. They're both a tad bit overused and overrated to me.**

**COMING UP IN NIGHTWING: ALLEGIANCES: Young Justice watches the news again, Nightwing kicks butt again, and Blüdhaven's hero is trending on Twitter.**

**I'm actually pretty excited for next chapter, so if it's not up within a month it's because I want it to be perfect! It's actually important! And not a filler! YAY!**


	5. Diatribes

**A/N: Updated! BAM! Anyway...I edited the crap out of half of this chapter! Then I got bored...so...here you go! ^^**

**So, as I've mentioned (or at least, I think I mentioned this) the story is split into three parts. Part two has just been rough drafted in its entirety. I'll probably be able to update faster towards the beginning of 2014. Also, the end of each part will be emphasized by the following chapter not relating much with the story. Like, an Outlaws mission or a day in the life of Alfred or a story about bunnies. I am taking requests for the chapter after part one currently. I'm not thinking far enough ahead to take requests for the part two one. Also, these unrelated chapters will hold answers for my random authors questions...the ones that have answers.**

**WARNING: Language, some violence, an attempt at figurative language.**

**I own nothing except for some random unnamed OCs and one OC with a name.**

**Review Responses:**

_**missIF:**_** Yes, Deathstroke scares us all. Thanks for the review! I'm updating once a month, but by month I mean once every time the name of the month changes. Not the exact day...So some waits will be longer than others. Expect most of them to happen sometime int the 20s of the month. Hope this makes it easier for you to guess when the next update is coming! Thanks for enjoying my story and taking the time to review! :D**

_**janzen222:**_** Your rant of praise (praise-ful rant?) was so nice! I especially enjoyed the little rhyme. Unfortunately, I don't think any of my chapters will be titled "Divine" so I won't be able to use it :( You know, even I want Red Hood to put a bullet in Deathstroke's head, but then the story would be over! Thank you for being awesome and reviewing!**

_**Remmy18: **_**What's more than a lot? You love my story that much!? I can't thank you enough for the support! I hope I can maintain that level for the whole sequel! Thanks for the review!**

_**4-Starry-Night-8: **_**Shh! Don't point out the loopholes in the plan! Here I thought I was being all sneaky...Anyway, his image will only be tarnished IF the Bats say anything. Will they? They are a secretive bunch. Thanks you for the fantastic review!**

* * *

**Chapter 5- Diatribes**

* * *

"_The order itself is just a diatribe and political manifesto."-__Charles Chapman_

* * *

It was madness, plain and simple. That was the only possible way for Nightwing to describe the scene before him. People were swarming around city hall. From his vantage point, the mob somewhat resembled a sea. As the people pushed and shoved one another to get closer, the sea gained waves. The constant chatter, protests, and catcalls gave the waves their roar.

On top of the steps of the city hall there stood a podium, occupied by one Senator Davis. Davis was a prominent senator at the moment, avidly campaigning for stricter vigilante and superhero laws, hence his presence in Blüdhaven, the home of the newest official vigilante. According to the good senator, the League should work under the strict orders of the American government, and the JLA needed to regulate all new vigilante/heroes via a set list of requirements yet to be determined. Many civilians agreed with Davis. Amateur combatants have no place out in the field.

The League, however, disagreed. They argued that they didn't just work out of the U.S. They had interplanetary and international connections; therefore following the orders of one government wouldn't turn out so well for some of their allies. They also stated that there shouldn't be a list of requirements that determine who can and can't be a hero. If there were, nobody would go above and beyond the call, which, according to Superman, was a key aspect that the League looks for in its members.

In order to boost support for his opinion, Davis happily went to Blüdhaven, surrounded by triple his normal number of security, to protest against the city's non-Leaguer vigilante.

"The League has served the planet, the universe, for years," Senator Davis recited from his podium, "they are professionals. On the other side, there are these newer, inexperienced civilians dressed in spandex, such as this Nightwing character, who go around risking their lives doing things that the League could and should be doing instead."

Nightwing sighed in boredom from his perch. This guy had been ranting like that for about an hour now, receiving both cheers and jeers from the people gathered. No assassination attempt.

Would it be wrong of him to say that the lack of illegal activity was seriously disappointing him?

It wasn't his fault that the political mumbo jumbo going on was monotonous as hell. He was a naturally active guy, so all of this talk was only succeeding in making him sleepy.

Sleep.

Ah, the rarities that vigilantes face.

No! He couldn't get distracted by thoughts of rest and relaxation…and naps. He had a job to do, and he had to remain vigil until it was over.

Rubbing a hand over his face, whilst simultaneously ignoring whatever the suit and tie at the podium was saying; Nightwing drew his attention back to the task at hand. He had to keep the Senator alive because, despite his anti-non-Leaguer ideals, he was actually a huge political supporter of the Justice League. He was an asset that the League and hero community in general could not afford to lose, especially with Godfrey around.

Nightwing brought up his wrist gauntlet's holocomputer. Typing in a command, the young vigilante was pleased to note that his updates had worked, for his mask's white lenses soon zoomed in on the building across the road. It was much simpler than lugging around binoculars if he did say so himself.

Scanning the other rooftops with his newly tricked out mask, Nightwing saw something intriguing. It was a man. He was crouching down and holding a sniper. Guy number one was found. Two more to go.

As he continued his scan, the savior of Blüdhaven found the second guy three buildings over. He too had a sniper aimed directly at Davis's head. One left.

Turning back to the Senator, Nightwing smirked devilishly. His night was about to pick up, finally.

He found the third guy.

It was go time.

Without a second thought, the hero formerly known as Robin leapt into action.

* * *

"I don't know whether I like this guy, or I really hate him," Kid Flash stated as he snacked on some potato chips. Robin, Artemis, the recently healed Aqualad, and he were all sprawled in front of Mount Justice's television watching some politician give a speech in Blüdhaven. Currently, all of the other Young Justice members were away on other missions, most of which were quite minor.

"Well, I guess he's doing his job right then," Robin said cheekily, snatching a handful of chips in the process.

"Har har," the speedster sneered, moving his snack out of the Boy Wonder's reach, "But seriously guys, why are we watching this?"

"We are familiarizing ourselves with the current political situation, "Aqualad explained, "It is good to know that not all politicians are against our existence."

"Doesn't make it any less boring…"

Robin, having focused back on the television after stealing the chips, tensed suddenly as he spotted something in the corner of the screen. It was a small reflection of light originating from the rooftop in that area. Being the smart kid he was, Robin recognized that sort of reflection for what it really was.

"Guys," he began nervously, "there's a gun."

Artemis looked at the teen in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Top left corner of the screen. Look where the ledge of the building is visible."

"The glare…It's a sniper."

Robin nodded. "Someone's going to assassinate Davis."

"Are we able to get there in time?" Aqualad asked concerned.

"Dude," Kid Flash said, "Even I don't think I could get there in time, and in the time it'd take to call a Leaguer nearby, it'll be too late."

"Looks like the camera found him…" Robin groaned, for certainly things were going to get bad now that the cameraman had zoomed in on the sniper.

Now that this enemy was spotted, the bodyguards around Davis took action. Pulling out their guns, one didn't have to be a genius to know that they weren't going to get ready in time. The sniper was already crouched, aimed, and had his finger on the trigger. Before the first woman could even scream in panic, however, a dark blur came out of nowhere, kicking the sniper out of the way. The blur proceeded to turn and throw something to his right. The camera followed it; obviously the guy holding it was curious. What the screen showed was a second sniper, holding his hand in pain. Not even three seconds later, the blur was by sniper two, knocking that one unconscious.

Smiling to himself, Robin couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "I guess we had nothing to worry about."

"Is that…Nightwing?" Kid Flash asked in shock. Honestly, he had not thought this new vigilante to even be capable of a rescue this difficult. To any hero, dangers at public events, especially when guns were involved, were always hard. There were always too many variables that could make everything go south. The fact that Nightwing was able to stop an assassination attempt, on live television, with a mob of hundreds of people nearby, really showed his skill.

As the camera turned back towards Davis to record his reaction, the four young heroes gasped in shock. Ten of Davis's fifteen bodyguards were lying either unconscious, seriously injured, or (hopefully not, but probably) dead on the top of the city hall's stairs.

The remaining five all had their weapons trained on the senator.

With no Nightwing in sight, (after all, he was on top of a building quite some distance away) a hush fell over the crowd. There was absolutely no way out of this for Davis. A sort of depressed resolve found its way on the middle aged man's face, as though he'd accepted his premature fate. The gunmen smiled devilishly and fired.

Unfortunately, for the shooters that is, Davis was no longer where he'd been standing. He was now some twenty feet above the ground, dangling by a black rope/wire thing. Jumping into the space previously occupied by the senator was a very smug young adult/teenager in a black spandex suit with a blue bird on his chest.

Due to the silence still occurring from the shocked crowd, Nightwing's voice was clearly audible as he said, "And here I thought there'd only be three of you. Your boss is clearly not taking any chances today." A gun shot rang out, courtesy of an overzealous assassin. The shot would have hit the vigilante, but he managed to easily avoid it by taking a step to the left. Instead, the bullet embedded itself in the shoulder of another gunman, who promptly dropped his gun and gripped his wound, cursing the whole time.

Observing this, Nightwing stated, "Okay then, there's a bit less now. So…How do you guys want to do this? I can restrain you easily, like your two rooftop buddies, or I can hurt you. Really, it's your choice."

The observing heroes, minus Robin, cringed at his overconfidence. The reason that the Boy Wonder was not among those cringing was quite simple. Nightwing had proved his self-assuredness to be completely founded during their little…spar a few days prior.

Just then, the TV showed one of the would-be assassins pointing his weapon up at the dangling senator. Apparently he was going to finish his mission while Nightwing was distracted. The poor guy's attempt failed miserably as a small silver weapon struck his arm. The weapon was a throwing knife.

Nightwing's armory, apparently, consisted of rather lethal weaponry.

Sighing, the vigilante announced, "I told you I'd hurt you. Now, who wants to give up?" Two of the remaining three gunmen dropped their guns and rounded up their injured comrades, leading them to the hesitant authorities loitering at the bottom of the stairs.

"Cowards!" the last bad guy shouted as he watched his comrades leave. Turning back towards where the smirking vigilante had been, the gunman's mouth dropped. Nightwing was no longer there. That's when something bright caught his attention from the corner of his eye. Shifting his body to face the light, the remaining villain paled when he saw the vigilante holding two eskrima sticks, both of which had electricity flowing off of them.

Before he could even raise his weapon to the threat, Blüdhaven's hero had already charged. The last thing the potential killer felt before blackness overtook him was the searing pain caused by having two electrically charged weapons jabbing him in the gut.

As the last guy fell, Nightwing pressed a button on his wrist gauntlet which slowly lowered the senator to the ground. Once there, the man tried to thank the boy who'd saved his life, only to find him gathering up his cord, pulling out a grappling gun, and taking off into the evening sky.

Then the crowd began to cheer, and the scene changed to the news room.

The heroes in Mount Justice glanced at each other. They all knew what this meant. A small time vigilante just saved a popular senator.

Cue the media storm.

* * *

The storm that was the media did indeed come that very night. Channels went wild replaying the video recorded by the now very famous cameraman. Godfrey praised Nightwing. The President and Senator Davis gave the vigilante their most cordial and heartfelt thanks. Every late night show mentioned him. He was the big thing. Nightwing was in.

He was even trending on Twitter.

It was truly amazing how popular the guy, who just last month had been a myth, became in one afternoon. By ten o'clock at night, he had the government as well as the general population urging the League to grant him some form of membership.

To Nightwing, it was all quite annoying. That's why he was hiding on top of Blüdhaven's Wayne Tech building when _they _arrived.

Seriously, he'd just been chilling out and avoiding attention at half past midnight, when all of a sudden three Leaguers and two sidekicks flew/glided/grappled to him.

Flash, Superman, Batman, Robin, and Kid Flash. Just his luck.

Staring at the collective before him with a poker face, trying with all his might not to glare at his old mentor, the young vigilante impatiently asked, "Yes?"

Clearing his throat, the Man of Steel began, "We've been hearing great things about you Nightwing, especially in regards to recent events. So-"

"No." Obviously, Nightwing knew he was being blunt and rather cold, but he just wanted the heroes (more importantly, Batman) out of his city.

This bluntness, however, caused everyone's eyes to widen, except for Batman since he was, you know, Batman.

Kid Flash looked at him in confusion. "But you didn't even-"

"Uh, yeah, I sort of did even," Nightwing interrupted once more, "I've seen the news. You Leaguers are under a lot of pressure from the people right now to make me involved in some way with your little rag tag group. You came to ask me to ally myself with you, and my answer is no."

"Come on," Flash urged, "We all know you want to join. We have a lot of tech and equipment and food and other heroes to help you out and-"

"-and hot girls," Kid Flash added, "and lots of food and epic prank wars and access to every video game ever created ever and-"

"No."

"Why not?" Robin asked. Although, Nightwing could obviously hear a hint of a whine in the younger teen's voice. Granted, the second bird protégée of the bat was pretty good at cloaking his complaining.

"I don't want to," was the response Blüdhaven's vigilante gave as he prepped a grapple gun.

"At least consider our offer," Superman mediated, before the new hero could leave, "We'll return in three days to hear your final decision."

Scoffing, Nightwing said, "No can do Boy Scout. I'm taking a two day vacation to the Bat's city." Noticing Batman's eyes narrowing dangerously, he added, placating the bigger man, "Don't worry, I'm just visiting some family. Maybe a friend or two. There will be absolutely no vigilante-ing while I'm there."

Superman opened his mouth to present a new offer, only to have Nightwing proceed talking instead. "Can't do four days either. You see, Sundays are usually my day off. If I don't sleep at least one day a week, I perform rather shitty for the other six."

Kid Flash laughed. "Be careful using those words around Bats," the speedster said jovially, speeding over to rest his arm on the younger man's shoulder in camaraderie, "the Dark Knight might hurt you for corrupting the squirt over there."

Upon being called a squirt, Robin gave an undignified yelp of protest.

Maneuvering out of the red-headed speedster's grasp, Nightwing once more prepared his grappling gun, only to again be stopped by a Leaguer. This time, however, it was the firm grip of Batman's hand on his shoulder that prevented the young vigilante from further accomplishing his task, i.e. leaving.

Whirling around to face the older man, Nightwing gave a quick death glare before catching himself and putting back on his poker face. Unfortunately, from the scrutiny Batman was currently giving him, he'd noticed the brief slip up. On the plus side, Batman was never one to press such issues up front, so instead he just gave his standard scowl and stated in his monotonous voice, "Monday then. Kid Flash and Robin will stop by for your answer. Same spot, same time."

Glaring at the Bat for ordering him around again, Nightwing gave a mock salute, and then in a voice full of venom he replied, "Aye aye _captain_." Under his breath he added, "Asshole." Which from the snort Flash gave, was quite audible. With a smirk, Nightwing fired his grappling gun (finally) at a nearby building.

As his feet left the ground and he soared away, he caught Superman saying, "He doesn't seem to like you very much Batman."

Very faintly, feeling eyes on his back as well, the final portion of conversation Nightwing heard was the Bat's ominous response of, "No, he does not."

* * *

Elsewhere in the world, on a plane travelling across the Atlantic, heading towards Berlin, three young adults sat side by side by side in a row. The moody redhead guy was squashed in the middle between a bubbly redhead girl, who seriously needed to lie off of the fake tan, and another moody, but much more dangerous feeling young man. Every once in a while, the girl would point at the window in delight at something she'd spotted from her vantage next to it. The guy in the middle would just humor her, frustration clearly forming on his facial expression. The third member just kept flirting with the petit young woman across the aisle.

None of the other passengers suspected the trio to be in possession of a collection of deadly weapons. The girl didn't even resemble a dangerous extraterrestrial, which is what she was. None of the other passengers even somewhat suspected that the three young adults were the infamous antihero group called the Outlaws. They seemed like normal college students, not dangerous fighters.

"Look, Friend Roy, it is as though the world has gone white!" the girl, also known as Starfire, exclaimed…for the fifth time.

"Yes Kori, it is. You know why? IT'S BECAUSE WE ARE IN A CLOUD!" the redheaded archer shouted. His temper, apparently, had reached its limit.

Turning his attention from his flirting, Jason decided to enter the fray. "No need to shout at her Roy Boy, she's just excited," he said.

"Well how about you sit next to her on the way back," Roy snapped.

"How about not, besides, Gina and I were gonna sit by each other, weren't we?" Jason asked the young brunette across the aisle. The girl just blushed and averted her eyes.

"You just met Gina, and she's not even coming with us!"

"Temper Roy."

"Go temper yourself!"

"Excuse me sir," a flight attendant politely interrupted as she approached the Outlaws' seats, "the other passengers would like it if you'd keep your voice down."

"I'm sorry Miss," Jason apologized politely with a gleam in his eye that made Roy suspicious, "My friend here has absolutely no control over his emotions. He didn't take his meds this morning. Don't worry; I'll try to keep him in check."

"I DON'T HAVE MEDS!" the offended Roy shouted, glaring at his friend all the while.

Wanting the last word, Jason couldn't resist saying, "Shh! Roy, the other passengers are trying to sleep."

From where she was sitting, Kori sighed and rested her head against the cool glass of the window. By this point in their relationship, the alien was accustomed to the bickering of her two friends. After a while, the quieted arguing of the boys began to lull her to sleep. It was always like this with the Outlaws, and honestly, none of them would have it any other way.

And now that Deathstroke was at hand, the Outlaws were going to finally (hopefully) be able to exact their revenge on the man who tormented their little brother.

And none of them would have it any other way.

* * *

**A/N: There's that. I just realized that I was actually excited for the next chapter...Not so much this one. Next chapter I get to do a sort of character study, it's my first one of such depth and...sorry. I'll let you all find out next time.**

**GUESS WHO GOT MIDNIGHT PREMIER TICKETS TO THOR 2?! That's right, MEEEEEEEE! :D Ahem...**

**AUTHOR'S QUESTION/CHALLENGE: Now that you all know my set up, what do you think the next chapter will be called? What chapter titles are you expecting to see during this story?...Know any good quotes for them?**

**COMING UP IN NIGHTWING: ALLEGIANCES: April Fool's Day at Mount Justice, a trip to the cemetery, and a phone call is answered.**

**That's all for now. BYEEEEE!**


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